Wealth of Information

Tell me there is an end to learning, I will never believe it... Especially after I have met Sumi Ratnam. This man is a wealth of information... and it always excites me to be with someone with such calibre. Its also refreshing to be in the presence of someone, who can immediately put you down with their intelligence, in a form of reminder that you do not know half the things that he knows. I always look forward to meeting someone like that, and through Mr. Sumi, I did. Its funny that I have never noticed how much importance the river played in 'Mahanadhi' (Great river), a tamil movie released in 1994. Of course I had an idea, that the movie was referring to the great river, Ganges, but thats it. Only after talking to Sumi, I realised that the movie starts with a scene in the clean, pure, live giving river of South India, 'Kaveri', and the story progresses on to the sewage filled 'Koovam' river in Chennai. In the middle of the story, we have the 'Hooghly' river of Calcutta. I didn't realise how these rivers connect a man's life. Another example of layering.

It was also interesting to hear Sumi's notion about why Today's Tamilians will never be able to porgress in their lives. Because it is in their genes. Why, because, in the evolution of Tamils, they have never faced any major wars in ancient times, they lived in a highly art concentrates world, they have never faced any real challenges. Extremely intersting concepts that I have never come acroos through in my life. I can never explain the happiness of being able to learn so much in such a short time, from someone who does not see any age differences and who is more than willing to share what he knows. I guess, the next 4 days, in which I talk to Mr. Sumi, will be deeply enriching days for me. A week of self-enrichment.